Worst-ever February rainforest data for Brazilian Amazon
Fri, 24 February 2023
Brazilian Amazon deforestation reached its worst-ever February level in the second month of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's presidential term, provisional data showed Friday.
Surveillance satellites had detected 209 square kilometers (80.6 square miles) of forest destroyed,, according to the INPE space research institute's DETER monitoring system.
This is an area equivalent to about 30,000 football fields.
The INPE report included data only up to February 17, but was already an increase from the previous worst February, in 2022, when far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro was still in office.
Last month, Amazon deforestation was down 61 percent from a year earlier, according to the same source.
But experts warned at the time it was premature to talk of a "reversal" of the deforestation trend, partly because some forest loss may have been unobserved due to heavy cloud cover.
The February increase may partly reflect forest losses that were unobserved in January, WWF Brazil expert Daniel Silva told AFP.
Over Bolsonaro's presidency, average annual deforestation increased by 75 percent compared to the previous decade.
Bolsonaro instigated policies that favored the agriculture and logging industries mostly responsible for deforestation.
Having previously governed Brazil from 2003-10, Lula took office on January 1 this year with a promise to rebuild the government agencies tasked with protecting the environment after severe budget and personnel cuts inflicted on them by Bolsonaro.
He has also announced an ambitious goal of zero deforestation by 2030.
In order to do so he is counting on international aid, notably through the Amazon Fund, to which Germany and Norway are the main contributors.
WAR CRIMEPalestinian nurse spots own father among dying casualties from Israel raid
Imad SAADA
Fri, 24 February 2023
When Israel conducted its deadliest raid in the occupied West Bank in almost two decades this week, a young Palestinian nurse rushed to help.
As critical case after critical case succumbed to their wounds, Elias al-Ashqar, 25, let out a blood-curdling roar.
"My father! My father," he screamed, as he realised his dad was among the 11 people killed in the raid on the flashpoint city of Nablus.
"I was on my regular shift in the hospital on Wednesday morning. I was busy with a group of medical students from An-Najah University," Ashqar told AFP.
It was then that the emergency department alarm bell sounded, warning of multiple incoming casualties, an increasingly frequent occurrence amid the growing violence of recent months.
As he entered, he saw two people on opposite beds. "The doctors were trying to resuscitate them," he told AFP, tears welling in his eyes.
"I helped the doctors with the first patient. He was young but soon died, so I tried to help save the life of the second man without looking at his face.
"The doctors were trying to resuscitate him, so I left them to help other cases... but I had a strange feeling the second wounded man belonged to me.
"I ran back and asked about him, and they told me that he had been martyred, so I subconsciously pulled back the curtain, and discovered that the martyr was my father."
Ashqar said his father Abdel Aziz, 65, had been returning from prayers in the Old City when he was caught up in the Israeli incursion. He said his father was unarmed.
Recent clashes in Nablus are at least partly the result of the emergence of a new militant group in the city dubbed the Lions' Den, that claims to rise above traditional factional loyalties and has been blamed for a number of attacks on Israeli targets.
Israel said Wednesday's raid targeted two Lions' Den members, as well as a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group.
As young men lined up to offer their condolences on Friday, Ashqar said his father had simply been going about his everyday life and lamented the prospects of ever winning justice for him.
"I don't know whether the Palestinian person is different to the European or American person," he said.
"We just wish we could have a life, we just want a life."
str-gb/kir
Ukraine issue Banksy postage stamp on first anniversary of war
Fri, 24 February 2023
Ukraine on Friday issued a postage stamp reproducing a mural by British street artist Banksy showing a boy defeating a grown man in judo, to mark the first anniversary of Russia's invasion.
It was painted by Banksy on a demolished wall in the town of Borodianka, northwest of Kyiv, where many buildings were reduced to rubble by Russian aircraft at the start of the invasion, which began a year ago to the day.
The image draws inspiration from Russian President Vladimir Putin, known to be a black belt in judo, and depicts a young judoka representing Ukraine knocking down a grown man.
The phrase "Get lost Putin" has been added to the lower left part of the new stamp, which reproduces the stencil.
A number of Banksy drawings also appeared in Kyiv at the end of 2022.
Residents of the capital flocked to buy the new stamps on Friday, from the main post office on Kyiv's central square, the Maidan.
Among the queuers, Svetlana, a 50-year-old economist, was keen to get her hands on one "because I support the Ukrainian armed forces" and "the stamp is printed at a historic moment", one year after the start, on February 24, 2022, of the Russian invasion.
Also buying the first-day issue, Maxime said she was delighted to see a "first stamp from one of Banksy's works".
"It's a very cool gesture for the world to understand Ukraine, that we remain in the spotlight," the 26-year-old told AFP.
epe/tbm/bds/ea/pvh
WEAKEST LINK
Members of TSSA union vote to accept offers from train companies
Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent
Fri, 24 February 2023
Members of one of the rail unions involved in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions have voted to accept offers from train companies.
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) said its 3,000 members voted overwhelmingly in favour of deals which include a two-year pay rise worth 9%.
The union said it had won an improved deal on pay, as well as commitments on job security and full consultation over any possible changes to terms and conditions following months of industrial unrest.
The union said 80% of management grade staff and 60% of general grade members voted to accept the offers.
The result means the TSSA will formally accept the offers and notify the train companies that ballots for continuing industrial action have been withdrawn.
A TSSA spokesperson said: “This is a clear decision from our members which will end our long-running dispute – something which could have happened months ago had it not been for Government intransigence.
“The incredible resolve we have seen from our members has resulted in a significantly improved pay deal over two years, commitments for no compulsory redundancies, improved opportunities for redeployment, as well as full consultation over proposed reforms to ticket offices and any changes to terms and conditions.
“Thanks to the great commitment of our members across the train companies they have collectively won a better future and can be rightly proud of their actions in this historic dispute.
“We will continue to hold the train companies and the Government to account as we go forward because Britain needs a fully functioning rail network at the heart of our green industrial future, and as a means of rebuilding our economy in the wake of the Covid pandemic.”
Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group, said: “This is a positive breakthrough which shows these disputes can be resolved when members are given an opportunity to have their say in a democratic vote.
“TSSA members have sent a clear message that they welcome this fair offer, which means that those on the lowest pay are now eligible for a rise of over 13%, with all grades receiving at least a 9% rise in their 2022/23 pay packets.
“We hope that the RMT leadership will take this opportunity to reconsider their rejection of our equivalent offer, call off their unnecessary and disruptive strikes and allow their members a referendum on their own deal.”
Industrial action has cost the industry around £480 million in lost ticket revenue since June.
The agreement includes a two year pay deal covering 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 with a 5% increase or a minimum increase of £1,750 whichever is the greater in year one and a further 4 % per cent increase in year two.
There will be no compulsory redundancies of employees within the grades affected until December 2024.
The TSSA said it continues to oppose the proposed closures of ticket offices.
The train companies involved are – Avanti West Coast, C2C, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country, East Midlands Railway, Govia Thameslink Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, London North Eastern Railway, Northern Trains Limited, South Eastern Railway, South Western Railway, Trans Pennine Express, West Midlands Trains.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The outcome of this referendum is positive news.
“Having been given the opportunity to vote on their own futures, we’re pleased that TSSA members overwhelmingly recognised the benefits of this fair and reasonable pay deal.
“This best and final offer, facilitated by the Government, includes a fair pay rise, no compulsory redundancies and the vital reforms needed to get our railways back on a financially sustainable footing.
“Meanwhile, the RMT’s leaders are still refusing even to give their members the chance to vote on this offer.”
Rail workers union TSSA accepts pay deal rejected by RMT
Chris Price
Fri, 24 February 2023
TSSA union members during a strike on Crossrail last month - JULIAN SIMMONDS
Thousands of rail staff have accepted a pay deal that the RMT union is refusing to put to a ballot of its members, in a move that piles pressure on its leader Mick Lynch.
Members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) have voted to accept offers by train companies in the long-running dispute over pay, job security and conditions.
The deal accepted by the union's 3,000 members includes at least a 9pc increase over two years, rising to more than 14pc for the lowest paid workers.
A spokesman for the union said: "This is a clear decision from our members which will end our long-running dispute - something which could have happened months ago had it not been for Government intransigence.”
But the Government said: “The outcome of this referendum is positive news. Having been given the opportunity to vote on their own futures, we’re pleased that TSSA members overwhelmingly recognised the benefits of this fair and reasonable pay deal.
“Meanwhile, the RMT’s leaders are still refusing even to give their members the chance to vote on this offer.”
The RMT, which represents 40,000 workers across Network Rail and 14 train operators, rejected the offer this month and instead announced a fresh wave of rail strikes for Thursday, March 16, Saturday, March 18, Thursday, March 30, and Saturday, April 1.
It was widely thought that the union was preparing to agree to a new pay deal earlier this year, only for union hardliners to urge Mr Lynch not to put the terms to a ballot of its members.
Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group, said the TSSA backing of the pay deal showed “disputes can be resolved when members are given an opportunity to have their say in a democratic vote”.
"TSSA members have sent a clear message that they welcome this fair offer, which means that those on the lowest pay are now eligible for a rise of over 13pc, with all grades receiving at least a 9pc rise in their 2022/23 pay packets.”
Rolls-Royce freezes hiring on mini-nukes team
Howard Mustoe
Fri, 24 February 2023
SMRs - Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce’s nuclear power business has frozen hiring as it demands a contract from the Government for its pioneering miniature reactors.
The division – which employs about 600 people – has put all recruitment on pause until it secures a contract for its pioneering small modular reactors (SMRs), which will each be capable of producing enough power for 1 million homes at a cost of just £1.8bn apiece
The move comes after Rolls' new chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic warned that Britain was losing its edge as a leading developer of the technology amid foot-dragging by ministers.
He has urged the Government to “come to the table” and agree to buy some of the units, which are smaller than existing power stations and cheaper to build, with factory-produced parts.
Without a UK order, the project is unlikely to get business from abroad it needs, he said.
Rolls-Royce SMR has ramped up hiring from 100 to 600 people in the past year, but insiders say the business is now in limbo until a sale is made.
Mr Erginbilgic said on Thursday: “We need to come to the table and work very seriously and sign an agreement for the deployment of the first project. First mover advantage will be important.”
Rolls raised money for its SMR venture by bringing in external investors including the French billionaire Perrodo family, who made their fortune from private oil company Perenco; Qatar's sovereign wealth fund; and US nuclear business Exelon Generation. It also received £210m of taxpayer funding.
However, dozens of companies are developing mini-reactors – including big names such as GE Hitachi, which last month signed a deal to build the first SMR in North America in a deal with authorities in Ontario, Canada.
A Rolls-Royce SMR spokesman said: “Rolls-Royce SMR is making great progress towards its goal of deploying a fleet of factory-built power stations, in the UK and overseas, and we are ready to enter negotiations with government.
“A positive demand signal from Government will show commitment to the UK’s sovereign nuclear technology and to addressing future energy security, while delivering against its net-zero commitments.
“It is the right time for us to consolidate and take the time needed to consider our workload and ensure we are making the best and most efficient use of our people, with their unique skills and expertise.”
SMRs offer less than a tenth of the capacity of a traditional nuclear power station, but at a much smaller size. Their parts can be mass-produced, spreading the initial research costs involved over many units and lowering the price of the reactors.
Private companies requiring vast amounts of green electricity or heat will eventually be able to buy their own reactor, it is hoped, helping decarbonise industries such as chemicals, cement making and manufacturing.
As well as discussions with the UK, Rolls is also holding talks with the Czech Republic to sell SMRs. If the UK does not buy them, the Czech government is unlikely to, Mr Erginbilgic said. He said he is hoping Whitehall will start talks in earnest as soon as next month.
Responding to Mr Erginbilgic’s call for speed, a Government spokesman said: “Putin’s weaponization of energy has shown how vital UK energy security is, and nuclear sits at the heart of achieving our energy independence and will help us reach net zero.
“The Government is investing in these new technologies through the £385m Advanced Nuclear Fund, including £210m towards the Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactors programme.”
‘We have no time to lose’: Ban Ki-moon criticises climate finance delays
Karen McVeigh
Thu, 23 February 2023
Photograph: Mariscal/EPA
The former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has warned that the world’s largest fund to help developing nations weather the climate crisis remains an “empty shell”, despite decades of promises by rich nations.
“We need to see a massive acceleration in mobilising trillions of dollars needed to keep the world from climate collapse,” he said.
International climate finance from rich to poor countries is between five and 10 times short of what is needed, according to the UN. In 2020, money set aside to help poorer countries adapt to climate breakdown amounted to $29bn – far below the $340bn a year that could be needed by 2030.
The largest such fund, the Green Climate Fund, stands at $11.4bn. Rich countries have also been accused by NGOs of misleading accounting and issuing loans instead of grants.
Ban, a South Korean diplomat, served from 2007 to 2016 as eighth UN secretary general; his first major initiative was to urge action on climate at the Bali summit in 2007.
Two years later, at Cop15 in Copenhagen, rich countries promised to provide $100bn of climate finance a year every year for developing countries by 2020. However, Ban said: “After 14 years, nothing has been happening.”
The war in Ukraine, as well as conflicts in Tigray, Ethiopia, Yemen and Afghanistan, have taken the focus away from the climate crisis, he added. “The most critical crisis is climate change, which is happening so much faster than one might think. We have no time to lose.”
Ban did not agree with critics who saw Cop27, held in Egypt last year, as a failure. “We were able, after decades, to agree on loss and damage. That was a great success,” he said.
Related: African countries urge rich nations to honour $100bn climate finance pledge
But it was now the “moral responsibility” of states to put talk into action, he added, to help poorer countries adapt to global heating, and to mitigate the loss and damage they have already suffered from the climate crisis. “I have been urging political leaders: raise your political ambition levels and then find a way to provide the financial support. It is their moral responsibility.
“As we move towards Cop28 in the United Arab Emirates, our efforts in climate mitigation and adaptation must accelerate.”
Known for his quiet diplomacy during his time as secretary general, Ban went on to co-found the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens in 2017, to empower women and young people to achieve climate and development goals. Stepping down from his UN role, he said, meant he could now talk more forcefully about the climate emergency – for instance, when in 2020 he described Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement as “morally irresponsible”.
“Many people regard me as a gentle and soft person,” Ban said. “But when it comes to climate I become much more passionate and sometimes angry. I refrained from expressing my anger as secretary general. But now I am a retired person. I was really angry at Trump, when he was president, withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement.”
Trump’s withdrawal was politically shortsighted, scientifically wrong and morally irresponsible, he said.
Ban, 78, also chairs the Global Center on Adaptation and is an advocate for smallholder farmers, who in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia produce 80% of the food but receive only 1.7% of climate finance. “This is irrational,” he said.
“What an injustice. If we want a world free of hunger while adapting to climate change, we need to put smallholder farmers at its centre.”
German energy boss warns: Don't let guard down on gas supply
Germany's chief utility regulator, Klaus Mueller speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Federal Network Agency in Bonn, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023. Germany's natural gas reserves are abundant, and prices are down. But the country's top utility regulator, Klaus Mueller, says it's too soon to sound the all clear on an energy crisis spawned by the war in Ukraine, which laid bare Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
DAVID McHUGH
Thu, February 23, 2023 at 3:55 AM MST·5 min read
BONN, Germany (AP) — The temperature outside Klaus Mueller's office almost resembles spring, exactly the kind of mild weather that helped Germany get through the winter without Russian natural gas.
But Germany's chief utility regulator is not ready to sound the all clear on an energy crisis spawned by the war in Ukraine, even with natural gas reserves abundant and prices well down from their peak.
Too much could go wrong — especially if consumers and companies grow weary of the conservation habits they learned during a winter fraught with fear of rolling blackouts and rationing, Mueller, head of the Federal Network Agency, said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press.
Plus, there's next winter to think about.
Other risks, such as a pipeline accident or a sudden cold snap, could set back plans to keep natural gas storage as full as possible as Europe learns to live without the cheap Russian gas that fueled its economy for decades.
Mueller would only concede that he's “optimistic” this winter will end without a further gas crunch, especially after Germany cut gas use by 14% in 2022 through lowering thermostats, switching to other fuels or halting energy-intensive industrial production. Gas use fell 19% in the last six months across the whole 27-nation European Union.
“But at the same time, we're focused already on winter 2023-24, and we know that Germany, and large parts of Europe, will have to get through the next winter without Russian pipeline gas," he said. And “the risks are in plain sight.”
While he's thankful for warmer-than-usual winter weather that cut gas use for heating, “will next winter be so mild? No one can say," Mueller said.
“Second, we have to see if the industrial firms and private households are tired of the efforts related to conservation — or will they redouble their efforts based on experience thus far? We're pushing for the second to be the case,” he said.
Mueller says he hopes the public responds to an approach based on transparency — not exaggerating risk but not sugarcoating it either. Yet the experience with measures such as masking and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic show “that always being told what to do is not especially popular.”
Key for the months and years ahead is a push to use heat pumps instead of gas heating, still the case in roughly half of German homes. Above all, higher prices will force homeowners and businesses to adapt simply to lower their costs.
Gas prices have fallen to under 50 euros ($53) per megawatt hour — the lowest level in nearly a year and a half — from a record 350 euros per megawatt hour in August, according to FactSet. But they are still well above the 18 euros per megawatt hour in March 2021, just before Russia started massing troops on Ukraine's border.
Mueller said it will take six months to a year for lower prices to filter through to less expensive utility bills for consumers. Asked whether prices two or three times their pre-crisis level are the “new normal," Mueller avoided the phrase, saying there are too many uncertainties that could affect gas prices going forward.
Mueller, formerly head of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations and environment minister from the Greens party in northern Germany's Schleswig-Holstein region, took over the network agency in March 2022, just days after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Natural gas prices had already risen on fears of lost supply, although Western sanctions against Moscow initially spared oil and natural gas. There were concerns about Europe's dependency on Russian gas used to heat homes, generate electricity and fire up industrial processes like making glass and fertilizer.
What followed was a scramble to find alternative pipeline supplies from friendly countries like Norway and to line up floating terminals that can import liquefied natural gas that comes by ship from suppliers including the U.S. and Qatar.
Russia had already limited supplies in the run-up to the invasion, leaving storage low. Then it started cutting back supplies, first to countries that wouldn't meet a demand to pay in Russian currency. On Aug. 31, it cut off the major Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany, citing technical problems.
There's still a bit of Russian gas — about 7% of supply — flowing to Europe through Ukraine to Slovakia and via Turkey to Bulgaria.
The race to find new supplies was expensive — 10 billion euros went toward the floating terminals, and consumers are seeing painfully higher bills and inflation. But gas storage was full by December. Drawn down over the winter, storage facilities will have to be filled again over the summer.
One of Mueller’s first responsibilities as regulator was overseeing the establishment of a 24-hour crisis center next to his agency's skyscraper headquarters in Bonn, Germany’s capital until the 1999-2000 move to Berlin.
That’s where the agency would have decided which companies would get priority access to energy if supplies failed and the government declared a gas emergency. The center, equipped with diesel generators and stocks of food so it could operate even in a blackout, never had to be used.
Asked when he realized Germany had made it through the winter, Mueller said he was reassured by the full storage levels around Christmas. But complete relief is yet to come.
“When it's really spring here will be the moment when we will have made it," he said. “We're still a couple of weeks away, and I'd rather stay cautious.”
WAIT, WHAT?!
Yellen says EV battery mineral trade pacts can likely bypass Congress
Fri, February 24, 2023
By David Lawder
BENGALURU, Feb 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen said on Friday that she expects that future limited free trade agreements focused on battery minerals with the European Union and other trusted allies would not need approval from Congress.
Yellen told reporters on the sidelines of a G20 finance meeting in India that such agreements, which would be aimed at granting automakers based in Europe, Japan and other countries access to new U.S. tax credits for electric vehicles, would also likely include high labor standards and export control provisions to ensure secure supply chains.
Such mineral pacts are one potential way to address European Union's complaints that its automakers are shut out of the $7,500 per vehicle tax credits in the climate-focused Inflation Reduction Act, which it argues will suck electric vehicle investments away from Europe.
The law specified that the tax credits were only available to North American-assembled vehicles that meet certain local battery production and mineral extraction processing standards.
Countries with U.S. free trade agreements can also access the credits, and this is a provision that the Biden administration hopes to exploit by negotiating limited trade deals focused on battery minerals.
The Treasury already is allowing leased electric vehicles to qualify under commercial EV tax credit rules, a move that Yellen said would cover most vehicles for now. Over time, she said she hoped that trade agreements would allow more sold vehicles to qualify over time.
"It would be an agreement that we think would not require the agreement of Congress," she said adding that Congress intended "a kind of friend-shoring approach" for critical minerals to reduce reliance on China.
"I think the word 'free trade areas' was meant to mean reliable friends and partners with whom we can feel we have secure supply chains so we feel this is fully the intent of Congress and we'll be able to negotiate such agreements," Yellen said.
The Treasury in March is due to put out guidance on the sourcing of battery minerals and Yellen said this will include guidance on free trade areas that can qualify.
The Treasury already has said that it will qualify existing comprehensive free trade pacts Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru and Singapore.
Yellen said that the United States and Europe were getting closer to reaching understandings over the U.S. green energy subsidies, and said Washington will not try to stop Europe from enacting competing subsidies.
"We've been very clear with Europe that this is not a subsidy war," Yellen said. "We're not trying to steal jobs. This is our climate plan." (Reporting by David Lawder. Editing by Jane Merriman and Tomasz Janowski)
PRO-LIFE; THEN ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY
Florida Executes Man Used As ‘Political Pawn’ By Ron DeSantis
Jessica Schulberg
Thu, February 23, 2023 \
Florida on Thursday executed 59-year-old Donald Dillbeck, who was sentenced to death 32 years ago by a non-unanimous jury under a death penalty statute that has since been found unconstitutional.
Dillbeck, who was killed as punishment for fatally stabbing a woman named Faye Vann, was the first person executed in Florida since 2019.
The timing of his execution appears to be part of a push by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to bring back death sentences by non-unanimous juries. DeSantis, who is expected to run for president, signed Dillbeck’s death warrant last month on the same day that he floated changing state law to allow non-unanimous juries to impose death sentences. “Maybe eight out of 12 have to agree or something,” DeSantis suggested at a Florida Sheriffs Association conference, just before ordering the execution of a man with that exact jury split.
“I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up,” Dillbeck reportedlysaid just before his death. “But I know Ron DeSantis has done a lot worse. He’s taken a lot from a lot of people. I speak for all men, women and children. He’s put his foot on our necks. Ron DeSantis and other people like him can s—k our d—s.”
In a written statement, Vann’s children, Tony and Laura Vann, thanked DeSantis for carrying out the execution.“We were robbed of years of memories with her, and it has been very painful ever since. However, the execution has given us some closure,” they wrote.
Shortly after DeSantis’ jury suggestion, Republican lawmakers filed a set of bills that would replace the unanimous jury requirement with an 8-4 threshold and allow a judge to overrule a jury to impose a death sentence.
“I’m not minimizing what [Dillbeck] did to people,” Florida capital defender Allison Miller told the Tallahassee Democrat, “but he is most definitely a political pawn.”
DeSantis has cited the outcome of the trial for Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people in a 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, as a reason to bring back non-unanimous jury verdicts. Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without parole after jurors split 9-3 over the death penalty. Not all of the victims of the Parkland shooting wanted Cruz to be sentenced to death.
There is currently no state in the country where a jury can legally impose a death sentence with an 8-4 vote, according to Robert Dunham, the former executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Alabama is the only state that currently allows non-unanimous juries to sentence people to death — and it requires 10 votes in favor of death. Missouri and Indiana allow a judge to impose the death penalty in cases where the jury is divided.
Like most people sentenced to death, Dillbeck endured extreme abuse as a child. His birth mother drank 18-24 beers per day throughout her pregnancy, resulting in “a catastrophic effect on Mr. Dillbeck’s intellectual and adaptive functioning,” his lawyers wrote in a petition requesting that the Supreme Court review his case. “That Mr. Dillbeck suffers from Neurobehavioral Disorder associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (ND-PAE) is thoroughly medically documented, unrebutted, and factually beyond dispute,” the lawyers continued.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing people with intellectual disabilities violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. In his petition, Dillbeck’s lawyer argued that ND-PAE is “functionally similar” and “identical in both etiology and symptomatology” to intellectual disabilities and should exclude him from execution.
Dillbeck was put in foster care when he was 4 years old and began using drugs by the age of 13, the Tampa Bay Times reported. When he was 15, he was sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting Lee County sheriff’s deputy Dwight Lynn Hall after the officer caught the boy with a stolen car. The teen was repeatedly sexually assaulted in prison. In 1990, he escaped from an off-site vocational program, purchased a knife, and encountered Vann in her car in a parking lot. When she refused to drive him away, he fatally stabbed her.
In 1991, Dillbeck was sentenced to death by a jury with eight people voting in favor of death and four against. At the time, jurors could recommend a death sentence with a simple majority.
“As the clerk read the sentence aloud, one juror wept uncontrollably,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported, referencing the newspaper’s archives. “Readers wrote to the newspaper disturbed by how such an arbitrary split could still send someone to death row, or by how Dillbeck’s history of childhood trauma seemed to have granted him some, but not enough, mercy.”
In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of Florida’s death penalty system, ruling that it did not give jurors enough of a role in determining the fate of the defendant. Later that year, the state legislature amended the statute to require at least 10 jurors recommend a death sentence in order for a judge to impose the punishment. The Florida Supreme Court subsequently held that it is unconstitutional for judges to impose death sentences with a non-unanimous jury recommendation. In March 2017, state lawmakers amended its death penalty law again to require unanimous jury decisions.
But in 2020, the Florida Supreme Court made a stunning reversal. By then, three of the liberal and moderate justices had reached the mandatory retirement age of 75. The court majority reinstated the non-unanimous death sentence of a man named Mark Poole, finding, “Our court was wrong” in 2016. The 2020 decision found that only jury decisions about whether an individual is eligible for the death penalty need to be unanimous — not the actual decision to impose the sentence.
“The majority returns Florida to its status as an absolute outlier among the jurisdictions in this country that utilize the death penalty,” Justice Jorge Labarga wrote in a dissent. “Further, the majority removes an important safeguard for ensuring that the death penalty is only applied to the most aggravated and least mitigated of murders. In the strongest possible terms, I dissent.”
Strapped to a gurney, death row inmate Donald Dillbeck saves his last words for DeSantis
Kathryn Varn, Tallahassee Democrat
Thu, February 23, 2023
RAIFORD — Donald Dillbeck didn’t mince words in the minutes before the state executed him Thursday night.
“I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up,” Dillbeck, 59, said, strapped to a gurney in the Florida State Prison death chamber. “But I know (Florida Gov.) Ron DeSantis has done a lot worse. He’s taken a lot from a lot of people. I speak for all men, women and children. He’s put his foot on our necks.”
Then, at 6:02 p.m., Florida Department of Corrections workers began to administer the first of three drugs to sedate him, paralyze him and stop his heart. He was pronounced dead 11 minutes later, at 6:13 p.m.
In the witness gallery, family members of Faye Lamb Vann, who Dillbeck stabbed to death in 1990, looked on with stony expressions. They opted not to speak to reporters afterward, but prison system spokeswoman Michelle Glady distributed a written statement from two of Vann’s children.
Here's the latest:Donald Dillbeck execution will move forward after Supreme Court rejects stay.
Dillbeck's last words:Donald Dillbeck used his last words to criticize and insult Ron DeSantis
“11,932 days ago Donald Dillbeck brutally killed our mother,” Tony and Laura Vann wrote. “We were robbed of years of memories with her and it has been very painful ever since. However, the execution has given us some closure.”
They added that they were grateful to DeSantis for carrying out the sentence.
In the minutes after the lethal injection procedure began, Dillbeck, covered with a sheet up to his armpits, clenched his jaw and puffed up his cheeks several times. His chest and left arm twitched. At 6:05 p.m., prison workers tapped his eyelashes and grabbed his shoulders, saying “Hey Dillbeck.” He didn’t react.
As 6:06 turned to 6:07, his mouth fell open, and his body became still. By 6:10, his face grew ashen. A physician checked his eyes and put a stethoscope to his chest before pronouncing him dead.
Death penalty in Florida: Here’s what to know about executions, death row
It had been 32 years since Dillbeck was sentenced to death, and Lamb wasn’t his only victim. At the time of her murder, Dillbeck had escaped from a work-release catering job in Gadsden County, where he was serving a life sentence for killing Lee County Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall, 31.
Dillbeck trudged in the woods along Highway 90 to Tallahassee and tried to carjack a vehicle, according to court documents. Vann, who was sitting in the car while her sons and grandchild returned clothing inside, resisted. Dillbeck stabbed her to death and slit her throat with a paring knife.
Along with Vann’s family, two men who said they worked with Hall at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office made the trip to the prison. While they couldn’t witness the execution, they waited in the grass across the street.
“This has been 44 years of waiting,” said Bill Rogers, 70. “We’re the old guys now.”
Rogers and Tony Vetter, 67, both of Fort Myers, said they were on duty the night Dillbeck killed Hall. Dillbeck, 15 at the time, was on the run from Indiana authorities who wanted him for a carjacking. Hall approached the car Dillbeck was sleeping in, and the teen ran away. Hall caught up and, as he tackled Dillbeck, his gun came out of the holster. Dillbeck shot and killed him.
“One person’s bad enough. But he did two, and he did the second brutal,” Rogers said of Dillbeck’s victims. “Nobody should ever be ecstatic about somebody being put to death, but there had to be consequences.”
On his last day in prison, Dillbeck awoke early and went through his normal routine, Glady told reporters Thursday afternoon. He visited with his spiritual adviser, she said. At 9:45 a.m., he had his last meal: fried shrimp, mushrooms, onion rings, butter pecan ice cream, pecan pie and a chocolate bar.
His execution was Florida’s first in more than three years, and the 100th since the Supreme Court allowed the practice to resume in 1975. The Supreme Court on Wednesday night rejected a last-minute appeal by Dillbeck’s attorneys, who argued the neurological impact of his biological mother’s heavy drinking during her pregnancy, and abuse after he was born, should be reason for the justices to spare his life.
DeSantis signed Dillbeck’s death warrant exactly a month ago, on Jan. 23. When asked why Dillbeck, a spokesman pointed to the details of the crime. The COVID-19 pandemic and state emergencies, like hurricanes, contributed to the years-long gap in executions, the spokesman said.
“With the signing of Mr. Dillbeck’s warrant,” spokesman Jeremy Redfern said, “the process has resumed.”
However, opponents of the death penalty believe politics, and DeSantis’ widely expected run for president, also played a role.
The same day DeSantis signed Dillbeck’s warrant, he floated the idea to lower the jury threshold to recommend a death sentence from unanimity, which is required by current state law, to 8-4. About a week later, Republican lawmakers filed a pair of bills that would make that change and also allow a judge to override a jury’s recommendation for life in prison and sentence death instead.
The jury in Dillbeck’s case had the same breakdown: eight for death and four for life.
Seminole Rep. Berny Jacques, who sponsored the House version of the bill, pointed to his frustration at the result of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High massacre. In that case, jurors, split 9-3, spared the life of the shooter, outraging the governor, state lawmakers and some family members of the 17 victims.
“It’s whether or not a small number can basically derail the true administration of justice, and we think that it shouldn’t be left to a small amount,” Jacques said.
Death penalty experts said the proposed legislation is almost identical to a prior version of Florida’s capital sentencing scheme that was struck down in 2016. While Jacques said he feels comfortable it will pass constitutional muster, critics of the law are concerned the courts would strike it down again and that it would ultimately move Florida backwards while other states have trended away from using the ultimate punishment.
“There will not be finality,” said Maria DeLiberato, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, of the disservice such a constitutional challenge would have for crime victims. “There will be instability and unreliability in the system and years of litigation in court over the constitutionality of this system.”
Following the execution, DeLiberato issued a statement emphasizing Dillbeck’s history of childhood trauama and abuse in the adult prison system after he was sentenced in Hall’s murder.
“The death penalty does not keep our communities safer,” she said. “Protecting vulnerable children, and making sure the abused and traumatized and mentally ill have access to mental health care — that’s how we keep our community safer. That’s how we end the cycle of violence. We are better than this.”
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida execution: Donald Dillbeck saves last words for Gov. DeSantis
Florida college students planning statewide walkout in protest of Ron DeSantis’s ‘attacks’ on education
Abe Asher
Wed, February 22, 2023
Students on college campuses across the state of Florida are planning a walkout on Thursday to protest Gov Ron DeSantis’ policies targeting LGBTQ+ and students of color.
The walkout, which is being organised by the Florida College Democrats and Dream Defenders, is scheduled from noon to 1pm on Thursday, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The students will call on the state to restore funding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming following Mr DeSantis’ announcement earlier this month that he plans to cut funding for them at the state’s public colleges and universities.
Mr DeSantis also vowed to block critical race theory at the state’s public colleges, an advanced legal theory that conservatives have turned into a catch-all term for teaching about the racial history of the United States.
The early February announcement about the future of DEI programming is only the latest of Mr DeSantis’ attacks on academic freedom in the state.
The second-term governor, who is widely expected to announce his candidacy for president later this year, also recently blocked a new advanced placement course on African American Studies from being taught in the state’s high schools. Last year, he signed one bill restricting public school teachers’ ability to teach about gender and sexuality and another restricting what university professors can teach about.
Earlier this year, the state’s flagship public university, the University of Florida, appointed former Republican Sen Ben Sasse of Nebraska as its new president over the protestations of its students.
The Florida College Democrats have chapters at universities across the state, while Dream Defenders is a progressive organisation with a diverse, young membership founded in the wake of the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. The Florida chapter of the voting rights organisation Voters of Tomorrow is also supporting the protest.
Students at Florida State University are planning to march to the nearby governor’s mansion during their walkout on Thursday, while Students the University of South Florida and the University of Central Florida have also signaled their intent to participate in the protest as well, reports the Tallahassee Democrat. All participants in the walkout asked asked to wear all black clothing and to carry political posters and pride flags.
Another student protest is scheduled for February 28 at New College of Florida, a notably progressive, public liberal arts school located in Sarasota.
Mr DeSantis’ crackdown on free speech in Florida schools is part of a broader political strategy that has also seen the governor sign legislation targeting Disney for opposing the “Don’t Say Gay” law that allows parents to sue their school districts if teachers mention gender or sexual orientation in the classroom.
New College students participate in Florida walkout against DeSantis policies
Tiffany Tompkins
Thu, February 23, 2023
New College students participated in a statewide college walkout on Thursday against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ education policies.
DeSantis recently appointed six conservatives to the board of trustees at the liberal arts college in Sarasota.
Nick Beck, an environmental studies student, climbs the Four Winds statue in front of the Cook Library at New College as students participated in a one-hour walkout to protest DeSantis’ recent education-related policies.
Olivia, a political science student at New College, reads notes written by students on why they love their school in front of the Cook Library as students participated in a one-hour walkout to protest DeSantis’ recent education-related policies.
Notes written by New College students stating why they love their school hang on a string of blue yarn in front of the Cook Library as students participated in a one-hour walkout to protest DeSantis’ recent education-related policies.
A New College student reads notes written by students stating why they love their school in front of the Cook Library as students participated in a one-hour walkout to protest DeSantis’ recent education-related policies.
